Dickinson and Whitman

Dickinson and Whitman

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Dickinson and Whitman

Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman sometimes appear to use similar themes and imageries nut they are mostly different in the forms applicable to their poems. In These are the days when Birds come back, Dickinson insinuates about the looming summer although she justifies that deceptive weather patterns account for this prediction. “Oh fraud that cannot cheat the bee” provides this clarification. I taste a liquor never brewed covers her fixation with hedonic tendencies by asserting “I shall drink the more” while Some keep the Sabbath going to Church notes that “ some keep the Sabbath in surplice” hence it is a revelation of the need to avoid pretense in religious issues (Baym & Levine, 2012). She is, therefore, successful in highlighting the nature of morality among human beings and proposing alternative habits that can weed out such vices.

Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry is a meditation about the effect of historical occurrences on future generations hence the need for developing an identity. He claims, “You furnish your paths toward eternity” thereby illustrating his desire for the reader to make wise life choices since they define him/her. Therefore, a continuity of the need for proper ethics is similarly espoused by Dickinson above. The choice of words in both instances is deliberate, and the vivid descriptions of the subjects under discussion facilitate the conjuring of such images in the mind of the reader (Baym & Levine, 2012). Emily Dickinson’s poetry is, however, preferable due to her tendency to use greater imagery in her poems. She is also more versatile in her format because she applies temperance form in a subtle way that makes certain verses unique since they have indicators showing the location of emphasis within verses. It is, therefore, evident that the elaborate nature of the poems improves its understanding while reinforcing the subject matter too.

Reference

Baym, N., & Levine, R. S. (2012). The Norton anthology of American literature: Volume 8. New York, NY: Norton.